Wood members, boards and panels are used as components, supports, and frames in a wide range of products, including containers, furniture and other products. Wood substitute materials are finding an increasing use in such products. U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,928 describes a structural member useful as a wood board substitute. The structural member is formed from a billet made of a plurality of corrugated paperboard sheets laminated together. The billet is cut to width to form the structural members, which may be subsequently cut to form elongate members, planks, boards and other planar structural members useful as a substitute for wood in containers, furniture and other products.
One drawback to the use of the board or structural member cut from the billet described above is the open unfinished edge of the structural member. The unfinished edge shows the flutes of the corrugated paperboard sheets that form the interior of the structural member. For some products (such as containers), the open unfinished edge is satisfactory. However, for products in which the structural member is visible, the open unfinished edge must be covered with a trim piece to provide a neat trim appearance to the structural member. While covering the unfinished edge with a trim piece provides a more attractive ornamental finish to the structural member, there are drawbacks to such. Particularly, the edges between the trim piece and the structural member are typically not smooth and this does not provide a visually satisfactory finish appearance.
Accordingly, there is a need in the art for structural members with a finished edge for use in construction of products. It is to such that the present invention is directed.